Around 20 or so HMRC inmates are sent to assist some civic defenders in investigating a mining colony that has sent out a call for aid. They are assigned to four squads of five inmates each. Their orders are to sweep the colony, floor by floor, for hostiles, and to evacuate any survivors. A terrible disease is suspected of killing much of the colony, leading to a breakdown in civilization, causing rioting, mob violence, and failure of colony systems.

Two teams explore one direction and two explore the other. They find no survivors, but they find evidence of violence in several rooms, and lots of bodies. One group gets an unhealthy dose of radiation when they open the sterilization chamber, which is set to absurdly high levels.

This floor was the life support systems: food, water, and air, as well as the entertainment district. The teams find additional evidence of violence, and discover that the engineers o the colony had sealed themselves into their various areas to attempt to keep the colony supplied. Rioters and mob anger turned against them when supplies tarted getting scarce. The team finds a group of starved survivors in the entertainment area, who, after an initial confrontation, evacuate willingly.

this level contained the government facilities and housing, the police building, and the prison, each in isolated wings. A group of inmates from the prison had overpowered both the government and the police, and had barricaded the way to each of those zones. here, the teams meet their first serious resistance, and several are wounded in the firefights, which kill many of the resistance before the colonists ultimately surrender and are evacuated. Several of the team are exposed to the colony's air, and the disease, through damage to their suits in the firefight. This affects only those with human bodies. In the government sector, the teams discover corruption and a mysterious agreement with some outside agency which funneled lots of money to the otherwise bankrupt colony. The teams regroup and head to the prison, which is anticlimactically empty of anything interesting, except a few small bits of exposition.

This floor is split into our blocks of housing units radiating out from the central elevator. each team takes a block to explore.

A block is mostly empty and is eventually evacuated without serious incident.

B block contains a very fearful group, which initially resists the team, fearing that they are representatives of the oppressive government, which had previously come down and fired into a peaceful protest demonstration, killing many. Negotiations are successful, and the group ultimately evacuates without major problems.

C block is another story. it is almost empty of living beings, having been partially burned to ash by the doctor group in order to kill of whatever plague had been spreading. Stacy finds a radio station and broadcasts a threatening "we're here to help" message, which does little to encourage diplomacy. ultimately, what survivors there are evacuate without violence.

D block appears completely abandoned, except one old man, from whom the team learns that the bodies on the first floor were primarily from this block - they had tried to flee the colony and were executed by the mining group, which fought to keep the contagion from spreading beyond this world.

The graveyard is full of bodies, and there is evidence that it has been expanded recently, but before the outbreak and resultant violence. This is more evidence that someone knew what was likely to happen, or had other reasons to expect large numbers of deaths soon. One teammate attempts to return to floors above for some reason, and discovers that the elevator will not return. It is here that the teams lose contact with the command group on the surface as well. The hospital is explored and appears rather non-standard. Beds have restraints, and it looks more like a medical testing research facility than a treatment center. The team finds one group of doctors holed up in the labs in back, and a firefight ensues. All but one of the doctors are eliminated, and one or two teammates are injured. The remaining doctor holds what he claims is a deadman's switch linked to an 1/8th kiloton nuke, and warns the team off. They leave him to his fate. Meanwhile another part of the team discovers an odd gray mist (later dubbed sharkmist) growing in a fractal pattern which matches the oddly geometric formation of the disease inside some of them. Having little choice, the teams head down to the next layer

The team spends some time sealing damaged suits, before opening the door to the mines, since there are alarms warning that the environment is hostile down there (depressurized with no life support or lights, etc). When they open the door, they find a miner with a mining laser trained on the door. He fires, killing feyri and wounding some of the others before dying to return fire. The team discovers that the mining tunnel is made of a macro version o the disease infecting them and the colony. they attempt to explore, only to be rebuffed by a strange psychic reaction to proximity to the structures. Samples are taken, and damage to the "macromist" causes a severe negative reaction from the disease in the teammates. faith is killed by the disease consuming much o her body at this time.

The team, having been rendered largely ineffective by this point, decide to get out however they can. They shoot, tear, and mindblast the closed irises sealing one level from another above them, and Miyamoto flies the elevator upward. besides the irises, the team only encounters some sharkmist on the second floor before making it to the surface, where they discover that the macrostructures have been growing exponentially, destroying the colony structures and rising hundred of feet beyond. On the way to the shuttles, they find the command shuttle and an empty evac APC. The command team is dead from gunshot (from an unknown source) and blade (from one of the command members). The teams do not discover the fate of the evacuated colonists. two of the team (Flint and Jobasio) attempt to fly the command shuttle to orbit, while the rest go in the main shuttle, Mesk operating it from the newly discovered, tiny cockpit in the front, isolated from the rest of the shuttle. the main shuttle achieves orbit, but the other runs out of fuel and is headed for a crash landing. Flint and Jobasio have about fifteen minutes to devise an escape. They use several maneuvering rockets, torn from the shuttle, to launch themselves into a higher arc, away from the shuttle, while Miyamoto flies his assault suit to rendevous successfully with them, against all odds. The team is rescued by Shuttles from the Sword, and the ill are treated, and the dead are revived.

Through normal working and living arrangements, the colony is divided into groups - the Engineers, Entertainment, Govenrment, Miners, Doctor, and miscellaneous.

the colony operates in the red for a long time, collecting major debts.

The miners discover the macromist (not really a mist at all, but oh well). below.

Word gets to someone in the UWM, who funds research in the structures, funneling large amounts of money to the colony, enriching the already corrupt Government

The macromist subtly (as a side effect of it's intended purpose) affect the colony's emotional state, heightening fear and anger and exacerbating natural frictions between groups.

People begin getting sick when the spores of the macromist collect in their lungs in sufficient numbers to begin replicating.

The doctors begin examining the infected and doing more research than treatment.

Infection rates rise, and civil unrest escalates.

The government clamps down on civil unrest brutally, first arresting large numbers, then firing on crowds of demonstraters in B block. C block is torched by the doctors to prevent the spread of the infection. Supplies begin growing scarce.

The prisoners revolt and overthrow the government, while mob violence is directed at the engineers. The entertainment people hole up in their district and shoot looters.

D Block attempts to evacuate, but the miner group uses their industrial lasers and heavy suits to kill the mall and damage their escape ship. The miners also execute anyone who tries to escape, using the temp quarantine area on the first floor for this.

The HRMC arrives. Survivors are evacuated and the colony is destroyed by the rapid growth of the macromist.